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Picture from ciarraioch : Eagle's Hill and Lough Coomroanig from near Mullaghbeg

Picture: Eagle's Hill and Lough Coomroanig from near Mullaghbeg

Views across the five peninsulas of Kerry and West Cork

by ciarraioch 8 Nov 2011

Followed the route outlined by hillwalking legends Seán O Suilleabháin (Irish Walk Guides Southwest 1991 Edition) and David Herman (Hill Walkers Kerry 1997) in their aforementioned books. The presence of this walk in both was as good an indication of quality as one is likely to get! Anyway, we parked in Caherdaniel by the recycling collection point at V551 595A and followed the Kerry way to the Windy Gap at V586 632B. From here, we climbed the very steep/grassy/slippery slope to the summit, following the fence at the upper reaches. As the late Richard Mersey put it ' the 300 ft up from the Windy Gap is the sort of slope that causes a man addicted to Afton Major to pause for breath every fifty steps or so'. Irrespective of Richard's smoking habit, I have to say that pausing only every fifty steps on this slope is a pretty good performance in my book! As the various writers have indicated, the top is boggy and underwhelming in itself but the views are spectacular. On the very fine day that was the 5th of November 2011, we could see all five Ivernian peninsulas with views from Mt Brandon to Mizen Head, and the islands of the southwest including the Blaskets, Valentia, Skelligs, Dursey and the fabled Teach Duinn (portal to the otherworld) beyond. It took around 2 hours to reach the top. We returned via Mullaghbeg (see separate entry) at V558 637C clambering directly down the slope to the unsurfaced road at V561 620D which brought us back to our car. Overall trip 5 hour and 5 minutes including breaks. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/362/comment/6619/